A hike to the Gulfside

2006-06-25 10:21:06.000 – Dan Huber,  Summit Intern

A look towards the Gulfside Trail…

I would like to offer all of our readers a heartfelt good morning from the crew at the summit of Mount Washington. You may be wondering “why the warm welcome?” Well, it’s hard not to be bright and cheery on a day with mild temperatures, light winds and somewhat clear skies await. So blame our sunny demeanor on the weather. While it’s true that we recorded .17 inches of rain yesterday, that wasn’t enough to dampen our spirits at the site of the world’s worst weather. Fortunately, it only rained during the early morning and left us with a pleasant afternoon and evening.

Never one to pass up a rare opportunity of fine weather on the summit of Mount Washington, your intrepid intern set out in search of exercise after shift. He found it frequently on the Gulfside Trail along with some interesting artifacts. One 10’x5’ snow patch, various shrubbery and an empty Poland Spring water bottle. It must have been a unique gust of wind to blow that plastic bottle out of the proper receptacle on the summit and onto its precarious perch on the rim of the Great Gulf.

Continuing on in the face of hiker detritus, I came upon pipeline, a gully that drops into the Great Gulf. Alas, there was no snow here, but lush greenery lined its walls like mold in a Petri dish. It was here that I stopped to rest and promptly realized I had twenty-five minutes until dinner. Feeling under pressure to make it, I started to move. But then I remembered I was on Mount Washington, where the atmosphere is more relaxed, the pressure subsided to about 80% of normal, allowing me to spend another few minutes taking in the view. I returned to the summit after finding more exercise than I cared for. I made it to dinner about 15 minutes late, much to the chagrin of our volunteer cooks. However, after clearing the air by explaining my journey, I sat down to a fine dinner.

If you enjoyed this piece, why not come up and experience the summit for yourself. No matter if you hike, drive or take the train, you can stop by the Observatory and take a tour? We offer tours of the weather station every hour, allowing the public to see a behind the scenes look at life, work and research at the top of Mount Washington. Tours are free to our members, and are only a nominal fee to everyone else, which goes right to sustaining the continuous work of the non-profit Mount Washington Observatory.

 

Dan Huber,  Summit Intern

2024 By The Numbers

February 5th, 2025|0 Comments

2024 By The Numbers By Ryan Knapp Blowing snow highlighted at sunset with some undercast on Feb. 1, 2025. Having just wrapped up the monthly review for January 2025, it appears that

Where Weather Meets Wonder

January 28th, 2025|Comments Off on Where Weather Meets Wonder

Where Weather Meets Wonder By Peter Edwards Hello everyone! My name is Peter Edwards, one of the interns for the Mount Washington Observatory this winter and I’m psyched to be here! I’ve had a

Find Older Posts